String of Pearls Quilt-a-Long

My String of Pearls quilt...from beginning.....

to middle....

To quilting (and lmost another "Oops" with not enough batting!!)...

 to end!

You notice the black binding.  I was going to do a scrappy binding with all of the "pearl" colors, but hubby saw the quilt asked if it could be his.   I said sure, then he asked what I was binding it with.  He really preferred the black (he's seeing computer screens in this quilt NOT a String of Pearls - LOL!)  

I'll just keep that scrappy binding because I still have quite a stash of Pearl Bracelet fabrics to use it with!

I want to thank Christa from Christa Quilts for hosting this quilt-a-long.  It was a lot of fun and if you want to see some really creative takes on this pattern, go check out the Flickr site.  Very inspiring!!

Wedding Quilt #3 - Whispering Stars

May I present Wedding Quilt #3!  This beautifully soft, low-contrast quilt is called Whispering Stars and the pattern was featured in an old American Patchwork & Quilting magazine.  I gathered the fabrics - from an old Robyn Pandolph line called Somerset Cottage - from here and there, a few years back, and then the pile sat.  I really wanted to make this one for myself but when I found out the bride loved pastels, I decided to make the quilt for the happy couple.  I would just enjoy it while I was making it.

I really got to put my Quilt In a Day Flying Geese Ruler to work on this quilt making those 80 star blocks!  Using that ruler is really my favorite way of making geese - they come out perfect every time, making this quilt go together so easily.

The pantograph I used to quilt it is called Heart's a Flutter - very appropriate!

Here are a few photos of the day...

Welcoming the Guests

Cute signs - Ceremony this way, and Cocktails this way too!

Hubby in his kilt on the 95 degree and humid day holding the goods.  

Even though it was way too hot that day (everything was outside), it was a beautiful wedding.  And I understand the bride and groom absolutely loved the quilt!

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Treasureboxmemories commented on my Wedding Quilt #2 post asking what line the "Beaches" fabric I featured was from (but I couldn't respond as the comment was "no reply, so I hope you see this!).   That fabric is from the Lucy's Crab Shack by Sweetwater from Moda line.  It's called "Beaches on Cream"  http://www.etsy.com/listing/108181536/lucys-crab-shack-by-sweetwater-beaches .

Christmas in July Part 2 - The Twelve Days of Christmas

This is a project I have to get started on and it will be a labor of love.  I have a cousin (a second cousin I guess - my grandmother's sister's daughter), about 10 years older than I am, whom I was very close to as a child.  I spent a lot of time with her and her mom when I was little.  We'd go on vacations together and I'd spent a week at their house in the summer.  When I was about 10 or so, Linda married a man from South Carolina and he whisked her away and she's there still.  I've only seen her a few times in those 40 years since, but I treasure each time that I do.  She and her family have been coming "up north" as they say, to visit for the past few summers.   Last year, sadly, I missed her visit.  She knows I quilt so had asked my Mom if she thought I would finish a project for her that she'd started years ago as a gift for one of her daughters.  And my Mom volunteered me.  And then forgot to tell me - LOL! When Linda came for her visit, she brought the project and gave it to my Mom to pass on.

The project came from this book...

 It's hard to see here, but each square is cross stitched with one of the Twelve Days of Christmas....

These are the fabrics that she chose for the sashing and borders...

 And each cross stitched blocks is beautifully done...

 These photos don't do them justice, they are very pretty..

Looks like she did these in 2002 by the initials and date on the last block.  I shouldn't talk.  I have UFOs way older than that! o:)

There were three spools of thread in the bag...I wonder how old these are???

I don't think I'll use those - we'll get some fresh thread - LOL!

So, my goal is to get this done and quilted for her to gift this Christmas.  I know she will be thrilled and it will make me very happy to have had a hand in helping her with this.  Makes me feel a little closer to someone I wish was still close to me geographically.  I really miss her.

Christmas in July....PMQG Holiday Angel Swap

Lookie what I found - a post I never posted.  I really want to share this so thought I'd do a Christmas in July post!
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In January, we had our Philly Modern Quilt Guild Holiday Angel Swap.  We filled out forms using Elfster giving hints as to what we might like to get, favorite, colors, things we definitely didn't like.  This was a huge help to the Angels to make sure your giftee would like what you worked so hard on!

One of the items my gal asked for was a coffee press cozy.  I found a great tutorial online and it was very easy to make!  I chose a color scheme of gray, aqua and orange and used my coffee press as a model....

In progress...

 

So simple!

Trying it out on my press...

I thought I'd make this cute potholder to go with....

I added a few odds and ends to the bag and my gift was complete!

I was the lucky recipient of some great things tailored to me!  Thanks again, Bobbi!  Here's my super-cute bag...

Bobbi and I both have Handiquilters and she geared my gifts toward longarming...I got this great book full of design ideas and an air eraseable pen - I love those.  She also included a very cute pre-printed mini wholecloth panel for me to practice on.  And, the pretty pin is hand made!

This was the pièce de résistance, however.  I mentioned I collected Christmas ornaments.  Bobbi made me this beautiful hand-beaded ornament for my tree.  Lovely!

(Yes, my tree was still up in mid-January.  Don't judge.  It came down shortly after that - LOL!)

You can see some other great gifts given that night here.

Well, the year is now half over - it's going to be time to start thinking about this Christmas soon!  At least for me it is ... this year I AM going to start my Christmas sewing early (no, really, I am! o:) )

A Day of Finishing Tops!

I was quite productive this very hot, sweltering weekend.  Great time to stay indoors in the AC and sew!

And sew, I did!  I actually got two tops finished.  I'm now caught up on the Strings of Pearls Quilt-a-Long.  I finished my top and it's all ready for quilting....

I was a little nervous that all of the black "connectors" weren't going to line up properly, but with careful pinning and sewing most of them are spot on - and the rest are almost perfect, so I'm calling it good!  After it's quilted, you'll never notice. I'm not quite sure how I'm going to quilt this one yet...

I had about an hour before everyone comes for dinner and I spied my Swoon blocks which were pinned to a design wall for months and decided to quickly get that together.  Didn't take long at all!

I think it looks lovely...

I'm quilting this in a zig zag pattern using my EZ boards.  I saw a guild friend's Swoon quilted like that and loved it.  This will be a nice addition to my summer

This will be a nice addition to my collection of  summer quilts!

SMQ Bee Blocks

In between finishing the quilting on Wedding Quilt #3 this past weekend, I caught up on my Sunday Morning Quilts Bee blocks. I finished the two blocks for June and actually worked ahead and got July's done too!

The two June gals asked for blocks for the High Five quilt from the book - here is the colorful version...

and the neutral version...

We generally do two blocks per month but for July we're only doing one. Our July quilter chose blocks for the Ticker Tape quilt...

I thought I'd get it started and then work a little bit at a time on the block. But, it was so much fun before I knew it, I was finished! The block is just composed of scraps, worked like a puzzle, stitched down 1/4" from the edges. Maybe you can see little better in the photo below. When it's washed, the edges will fray and get fluffy. We were each asked to use a 22" piece of Kona white as our background. All the blocks will then be stitched together and the white areas filled in with more scraps.

I think I might like to make a Ticker Tape quilt of my own someday!

 

***Public Service Announcement***

You know when they say "measure twice, cut once"? Yeah, well make sure you do that or....

(using Heat Press Batting Tape to splice the new piece of batting in)

You may wind up piecing in the few inches of batting that you are short while it's on the quilting frame!! (I may have also cut my "wide back" down too short and had to piece that back together too. Sigh...)

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Show & Tell Tuesdays

I thought I'd actually join in Show & Tell Tuesdays again (I know, it's been awhile)
I'm still on a deadline for Wedding Quilt #3 - here's a sneak peak of it being quilted. Once it's done, I'll give all the details! And, that will be soon - the wedding is next Saturday - Yikes!

it's a little wrinkly here, but it's actually very pretty

I've also started sewing the blocks for the String of Pearls Quilt-a-Long. These blocks are some fun!! I love the pops of color in the dark borders...

I'm way behind on my Sunday Morning Quilts Bee blocks for this month but I'll get them done by the end of the month deadline! Both ladies chose blocks for the same quilt this month (Hi Five on page 118 of the book if you have it) - one in bright colors (that gets started next) and this one with neutrals surrounding the bits of color in the middle of each block. Very different than the quilt in the book, but I'm really liking it!....

I'll be glad when my deadline sewing is done for awhile and I am free to sew whatever I want!

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